In the peaceful land of Osten Ard, the good king is dying-and a long-dreaded evil is about to be unleashed. Only Simon, a lowly castle scullion apprenticed to a secret order dedicated to halting the coming darkness, can solve the dangerous riddle that offers salvation to the land.

My thoughts

Like other epic fantasies, this book was slow to start as the world and characters were introduced in detail. Once things started going wrong with the land, and Simon had to flee his comfortable home ...continue

Like other epic fantasies, this book was slow to start as the world and characters were introduced in detail. Once things started going wrong with the land, and Simon had to flee his comfortable home to face the unknown, the story started picking up. I liked meeting all the characters, though sometimes I had trouble keeping them straight as the names are often similar to each other. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Stone of Farewell

Tad Williams did an excellent job in portraying a realistic teenage boy in a harrowing situation. The only problem is that you have to spend the entire series listening to a realistic teenage boy. ...continue

Tad Williams did an excellent job in portraying a realistic teenage boy in a harrowing situation. The only problem is that you have to spend the entire series listening to a realistic teenage boy.